The anonymity threshold
In order to protect the respondents’ integrity, reports are not available if the number of answers for a specific survey cycle in a team or group is lower than the anonymity threshold. This means that a team in which the total number of employees is lower than the anonymity threshold will not be able to get a separate report.
Hidden answers
Hidden answers are answers submitted by a user that cannot be shown in a specific report due to anonymity reasons. When an answer is hidden in a report, it will not be included in the calculations of any of the results in that specific report. Hidden answers are however included when the response rate is calculated.
Hidden answers always originate from a team/group that has too few answers to obtain a report of their own, and when viewing a report on a higher level (where they would be expected to be included), they are hidden by the anonymity algorithm. This can occur even if the total number of answers in the report you are viewing is well above the anonymity threshold, if it would otherwise be possible to identify these answers by comparing different reports.
When will hidden answers become visible?
Answers that originate from a team/group that has too few answers to obtain a report of their own will be shown in a report on a higher level when the total number of such answers is equal to or higher than the anonymity threshold. Once an answer is shown at a certain level, it will always be shown in reports on higher levels.
Groups and hidden answers
In case a manager has divided his/her team into 2 or more groups, the individual groups’ reports will always take precedence over the manager’s total report when the reports are created. If, for example, a manager has 2 groups with 3 employees in each group, but only 2 employees participated in Group A (while all 3 employees in group B participated), Group B will receive a report of its own, while Group A will not. The responses from the employees in Group A will now be hidden in the manager’s total report, since it would otherwise be possible to compare Group B’s report with the total report, and thereby identify the 2 responses from Group A (which violates the anonymity threshold).